They built the Royals’ early championship teams. Now they’re in KC’s Hall of Fame

The first two decades or so of the Royals’ existence is a story of sustained success. The expansion franchise turned in a winning record in its third year, was in a pennant chase in its fifth and reached the playoffs in its eighth.

From 1969 until 1990, the Royals were over .500 or made the playoffs 16 times. They appeared in the postseason in seven seasons, won two American League flags and a World Series.

Two of the men largely responsible for assembling the talent for those teams, general managers Cedric Tallis and John Schuerholz, entered the Royals Hall of Fame in a ceremony on Friday at Kauffman Stadium.

“Our father used to love to dance, and we just think of him up there dancing because this is such a momentous occasion.” said Tallis’ daugher Gale.

Tallis, who died in 1991 at 76, was the Royals’ first GM. He was with the California Angels when prospective team owner Ewing Kauffman visited Anaheim in 1966. The Angels, born in expansion five years earlier, were moving into a new stadium, and when Kauffman won the rights to the Royals the next year, he made Tallis the team’s first club-specific executive.

The Royals were one of four expansion teams in 1969, along with the Seattle Pilots (moved to Milwaukee after one season), San Diego Padres and Montreal Expos (moved to Washington, D.C. in 2005). With Tallis’ skills in identifying and acquiring talent, the Royals got the jump on all of them ... and other established teams.

From the early drafts, the Royals landed such players as Paul Splittorff, Dennis Leonard, Steve Busby, George Brett and Willie Wilson. Frank White emerged as the prized pupil from the Kansas City Baseball Academy.

A series of brilliant trades pushed the Royals to the top. Under Tallis, the Royals acquired foundational players Amos Otis, Cookie Rojas, Fred Patek, John Mayberry and Hal McRae.

No Royals general manager in team history is responsible for landing more top level talent — 11 players are in the Royals Hall of Fame — than Tallis.

After a falling out with Kauffman, Tallis was fired in 1974 and replaced by Joe Burke. Tallis eventually became general manager of the New York Yankees and was with the team in 1978, when they defeated the Royals in the American League Championship Series for the second straight year.

“We weren’t sure why he wasn’t in the Hall of Fame before,” Gale Tallis said. “We’re just very thankful he’s there now.”

Another of Tallis’ smart acquisitions: Schuerholz.

Among Tallis’ front office hires with the Royals was Lou Gorman from the Baltimore Orioles, and he brought along one of his young staffers, Schuerholz.

Through the 1970s, Schuerholz worked his way up the organization and became general manager in 1981. The Royals remained competitive, and the organization’s decision to go with a young pitching staff, led by Bret Saberhagen, Mark Gubicza and Danny Jackson, became a key piece.

Schuerholz also traded for catcher Jim Sundberg and outfielder Lonnie Smith, and the Royals finally reached the top in 1985, overcoming 3-1 deficits to defeat the Toronto Blue Jays for the American League pennant and St. Louis Cardinals in the World Series.

In 1990, Schuerholz left Kansas City to become the Atlanta Braves’ general manager and built a team that won 14 straight division titles, five National League pennants and the 1995 World Series.

Among his protegees in Atlanta: Dayton Moore, who won the 2015 World Series as the Royals general manager, and current Royals GM J.J. Picollo.

In 2017, Schuerholz was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

“When I think of John Schuerholz, I think of the model baseball executive,” Moore said. “John’s meant the world to me and my family, and many people who remain in this organization today are really blessed to have John as an example and mentor.”

On Friday, Schuerholz threw a first pitch to former Royals manager Ned Yost, a coach for more than a decade with Schuerholz’s Braves. Tallis’ son, Gary, threw a first pitch to Brett.

Hall of Fame induction weekend continues on Saturday when the third member of the 2024 class, Bo Jackson, will be honored.